The other day, a telemarketer hung up on me. Apparently, I was asking too many questions. The bank that issued me a credit card had tied up with an insurance company, and she wanted to tell me about the benefits.
What do I have to do, I asked her. “Nothing, Ma'am, you don't have to do anything,” she said, and continued with her spiel about a cash-back guarantee. “But what are you offering? A loan?” I asked, to which she repeated “Nothing.” “But if I'm getting benefits, I have to do something for it, don't I?” I persisted — at which point she hung up.
I found it quite funny, because usually ‘we' hang up on ‘them'. Their job can't be easy, talking to several people everyday, most of who hang up on them. And I think of myself as one who does this gently rather than roughly. Speaking to my friends about this threw up several interesting reactions.
One of them, originally from Kerala, lives in North-West Europe. Whenever someone calls her offering to sell something, she breaks into Malayalam, and the telemarketer hangs up, saying she cannot understand Italian. Another who lives in the US sees the Chennai code number and takes the call, eagerly expecting some family member or friend on the line, only to find pleas to buy a phone card as the commission would really help the caller!
“I don't have much money” often stuns the caller into an embarrassed silence, while “I'm unemployed” has them hanging up immediately. “You don't have an off even on Sunday?” delivered in a pitiable tone elicits a hasty apology. Once, no sooner than I had received a call (the desperately cheery “Very good afternoon, Madam!” immediately identifies it as telemarketing) I said, “I'm sorry but I'm busy” only to have the telemarketer ask in an injured tone how I could reject her right away without even knowing what she was going to say. Truth be told, it did have an effect. Since then, I've revised my approach, ask them to state the product/service on offer, tell them I'm at work and they usually leave me alone.
Then there are those who don't buy the pity angle. It's true they have a tough time, but often launch into sob stories to make a sale, they say. Another friend in the US finds them “pushy, rude and obnoxious” — she had a telemarketer from India harassing her by calling repeatedly and even leaving messages saying he wants to “make friendship” with her.
Says she, “I used to feel they are only doing their job until they started getting abusive. It's not very different from being propositioned on the streets, simply because you are a woman. They have my phone number and address. I don't know where they are calling from. I don't know who they are. It can get scary. But forget all that. What gives anyone the right to call me at home and talk to me any which way they want?” She has even switched service providers to one which allows blocking of undesirable phone numbers, especially the ones with blocked caller IDs.
Sometimes striking up a conversation with them can help. A friend's husband starts off by asking their and their parents' names, whether they're married, whose name their house is registered in, what they're having for lunch, and goes on in that vein till they hang up. And then there is this strategy: “Let us say I take the personal loan — is it okay if I don't pay it back?” And heaven help the salesperson who calls up and says, “Hello Aunty,…” (yes, it's been known to happen).
So which of these tactics are you going to take the next time? Mine works just fine for me but just for fun I think I'll try all these!